Trial begins for Marco Island woman accused of killing her boyfriend three years ago

The trial of a Marco Island woman accused of killing her boyfriend more than three years ago began Tuesday with jury selection.

Lisa Troemner, 27, faces a charge of second-degree murder. Authorities say she fatally stabbed her live-in boyfriend, Trevor Smith, 30, in their home on Park Avenue during an argument Dec. 2, 2014.

If convicted, she could face up to life in prison.

The trial is expected to last four to five weeks, concluding no later than Feb. 20. Between state and defense witnesses, close to 150 people may take the stand.

“There’s a lot of witnesses,” said Donald Day, Troemner’s defense attorney. “There are a lot of technical issues, a lot of medical issues … a lot of evidence issues. So it’s just a little unusual from that perspective.”

Jury selection proceedings will continue Wednesday as defense attorneys and prosecutors look to agree on six jurors and four alternates. But, Day said, jury selection could continue into Thursday.

Troemner, who was dressed in a gray pantsuit and sat next to Day, listened to the proceedings. She has been in custody since her 2014 arrest.

That December day, around 2 a.m., detectives were called to the Marco Island home after police received a 911 call from a clerk at a 7-Eleven on Bald Eagle Drive who told dispatchers a woman, covered in blood, had entered the store, according to a Collier County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

The woman, who identified herself as Troemner, then spoke to dispatchers and told them she had an altercation with Smith and thought he was fatally injured, the report states.

Troemner, then 24, was taken to a hospital to be treated for a self-inflicted cut on her neck, according to the report. She told a Marco police officer she had tried to kill herself after stabbing her boyfriend, the report states.

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A Marco Island police officer looks over the railing at Park Avenue on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, on Marco Island, Fla. Lisa Troemner, 24, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Trevor Smith, 30, inside their home in the 800 block of Park Avenue in the Roman Plaza.(Photo: Corey Perrine/Naples Daily News)

She later told detectives she and Smith had been arguing for several days and that the dispute had become worse over the last two days "and at times had become physical," the report states.

Troemner told detectives that Smith woke that morning and continued the argument by calling her names, according to the report.

Troemner then kicked Smith off the bed and stabbed him once in the neck with a kitchen knife she had next to the bed as he tried to get up off the floor, the report states.

When she checked on Smith, he was unconscious and not breathing, Troemner told detectives.

She attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation but did not know how to perform it, the report states.

Troemner cleaned up before seeking help "because she did not want to scare anyone with all the blood," according to the report.

She got dressed and walked to the 7-Eleven to get help because she didn't have a phone at the apartment, the report states.